Ant International has completed live tokenised deposit transfers with BOCHK, CCB (Asia), and HSBC, settled in central bank money under EnsembleTX.
Following the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) announcement on interbank settlement of tokenised deposit transactions under EnsembleTX, Ant International completed a series of live Hong Kong dollar interbank transactions between September and October 2026. The transfers, involving Bank of China (Hong Kong), China Construction Bank (Asia), and HSBC, were settled in the HKMA’s central bank money (CeBM) and initiated through WhaleRTP, Ant International’s blockchain-based wholesale settlement platform. Each transfer moved from payment instruction to final receipt within five minutes.
Real-time liquidity across banks
The transactions comprised transfers between Bank of China (Hong Kong) and China Construction Bank (Asia), as well as interbank transactions involving China Construction Bank (Asia) and HSBC. Through this setup, Ant International automated transaction execution, gained round-the-clock access to liquidity, and improved its real-time cash management in Hong Kong. According to the company, this reduced its reliance on pre-funding for liquidity movements and lowered the operating capital it needs to hold.
Ant International has taken part in the Ensemble Sandbox since 2024 and became a member of the Project Ensemble Architecture Community in 2025. The company says the live cross-bank transactions mark progress towards the commercial use of tokenised deposits, moving the work from testing into real transactions with partner banks.
Towards agentic treasury
Ant International plans to use EnsembleTX as a basis for what it calls agentic treasury, in line with its launch of an AI-based product suite that includes foreign exchange and treasury solutions. Kelvin Li, General Manager of Platform Tech and Senior Vice President at Ant International, stated that EnsembleTX has laid the groundwork for this approach. According to Li, combining real-time intelligence from FalconTST with WhaleRTP’s settlement layer allows AI agents to make and execute treasury decisions in continuous, automated flows.
The transactions show how tokenised deposits settled in central bank money can let companies move funds between banks at any time, rather than only during banking hours. The results come as regulators elsewhere also encourage banks to engage with tokenisation, with the Bank of Italy’s Deputy Governor recently urging banks to act if they want to preserve their role as issuers of private money.
